The steel wool like stuff was not rusted at the time I washed the shell. The rusting occured during the rocks fresh water curing period. None of it had a rust color except what I noticed as pieces I missed during my hand screening ordeal. The second bag I bought about 8 or 9 months later had the same stuff. At this point, having learned a bit, I used a shallow container. Shaking it back and forth in a vibrating fashion (While dry), pieces already near the top would work their way up and are then exposed. You always have to turn and mix the shell mix to bring more closer to the surface to be exposed.
Water helps but also mitigates ease of wool finding due to the unbelievable amount of dust, dirt, and sediment mixed in with the shell. That's ok, After seeing that mess I'm not in a hurry to put it in my tank without a thorough washing. I would also like to say, I don't think she steel wool should thought of as heavy. It needs to be remembered that while made of Iron, steel wool's overall density is very low due to the way it is spun.
The first batch of rocks, The ones I saw the bits of rust on and probably in, Bucket cured for about 8 months. I had noticed the rust earlier than the 8 months but haven't been able to bring myself to throw them away with all the time and effort I had put into them. I had thought I got all the wool peices out but later dicovered I had missed them. The rocks now sit in a friends slow/shallow creek. When I pull them, The creek followup cure to the 8 months will have been an additional 2- 2&1/2 months. If there not done by then somebody please just shoot me.
The second batch, For which I purchased the second bag, Will go staight in the creek for curing. I'll probably start soaking them around july 1st and pull them around october 1st.
Just a couple of educational notes: Even a slow moving stream has a huge volume of water exchange compared to anything we could hope to provide in the home. This doesn't even count issues of water waste or water cost (which does add up). Also; I made a discovery last late fall. I had been bucket curing indoors, changing the water 1 or 2 times a week. I had decided my indoor space needed not be cluttered by yet another attractive part of my hobby (rock buckets). So I moved the to the porch to cure for a few weeks. After testing the water, They were ready! I brought them indoors, flushed the water, and tested them again the next day. The Ph was back off the meters. What I learned; COLD water severely slows the carbonates leaching out of the rocks. Another thing to be aware of is that vinager is a compleate waste of time. Trust me, I wasted to much time, effort, and vinegar on the approach.
As in following the Idea of this thread; At least conceptually, In the next batch I am going to be using the salt to increase internal void spaces within the rock. With the salt I will be using a mix of cement Type I-II and the oyster shell. Also; just to make my desciption compleate, Many of the rocks will contain imbedded peices of PVC. This is so I'll be able (hopefully) to build rock forms in a lego like way.
Insane Reefer
Unfortunately, after searching thru my more maticulasly cleaned oyster shell, I haven't been able to find any remnant peices of the wool stuff. Does't mean there's none there, just that I haven't been able to find it. I wish I had saved some.